Vincent's Last Birthday Escapade
by Darknightdestiny
Summary: The gang discovers an old tape and sees a side to Vincent that they never knew existed. One of them is curious, but will he let her inside the walls he's built up? [VT]
1. Act I

**Vincent's Last Birthday Escapade**

**By Darknightdestiny**

(A/N): I planned on writing a lovely one-shot for Vincent's birthday, and posting it on October 13th, because it is the oh so wonderful day. However, I got through parts of this story and realized I didn't like it. And there wasn't enough time to finish it, and get it up on the right day! Now…I like quality work. But it just wouldn't be the same if I changed the day, so I came up with a solution. Chapters…yes, chapters. There will probably be two or three parts. I don't know how this will turn out, so I apologize in advance. ::Sigh:: This is…Vincent Valentine's Birthday gift from me.

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Cloud held the small black object high above his head, his arm stretched way up, beyond the poor ninja's reach.

"Hey, no fair!"

"What do you mean, 'no fair'? You know that's a bad idea. You really must be grab-happy today, to go and pull something like that."

"I just wanna seeeeee!"

"Yuff, he'd eat you alive," Barrett spoke up from the far side of the room.

"Ha! He would not. I've never even seen him eat anything at all, actually…"

"Oh, I'm sure he would," Cid exclaimed, "if the stupid shit din' have so much self control!"

Yuffie's eyes went wide. "You…don't really think so, do you?"

Tifa looked over at the ninja. "I really don't think that's a good idea, no. I agree with Cloud. I mean that's Vincent's personal stuff…isn't it? Where did you find that anyway?"

"Weeeell…behind the desk in the library."

Tifa shuddered. "Definitely not. Cloud, I'm right, aren't I?"

"I think so," he replied. "Besides, Yuffie, do you really want to find out what's on here?" He brought the videotape down to his chin level and gazed at it with a detached curiosity as he contemplated an idea. "For all we know, this could be surveillance."

"Pffft. Why would Vinnie need surveillance?"

"Not Vincent, Yuffie. This could be old stuff. Maybe even a visual record of his torture. Why else would it be here in the mansion with all the old stuff from the lab? Do you really want to see that?"

Yuffie paled. "On second thought, not really…heh…heh."

"Oh, Cloud!" Tifa exclaimed, horrified, "do you think that awful man would have left that behind on purpose? Do you think he wanted him to find it?"

"It's possible. That seems like the worst kind of punishment to me. I know if I were him, curiosity would have won. I can't imagine having to watch that kind of event again."

At this, they all looked solemnly at the floor, each contemplating the matter in their own minds. Vincent himself was upstairs, sleeping in one of the beds. He had had a rough night; the previous day they had traveled to Lucrecia's cavern, and he hadn't been able to sleep until early that morning after. Also, he had drunk some strange formula while he had been there, and he had seemed withdrawn to his thoughts- even more so than usual- and a bit dazed even. The others had agreed to leave him be.

"The hell!! Gimme that!"

Yuffie yelped as an arm shot past her head and yanked the tape right out of Cloud's hand.

"Cid! What are you doing?!" Tifa exclaimed, a whispered shout. Cloud was just staring at his empty hand as if he expected the tape to reappear in his grasp once more.

"I'm gonna see what all this damn commotion's all about."

"Cid! We can't do that…it's not right!" Tifa didn't even want to think about what might happen if Vincent came downstairs.

"Do you think Vincent knows of it?" questioned Nanaki.

"Ah, who knows?" said Cid. "But listen up. I'm not squeamish, and I'm not scared of some stupid tape. It might not be what you all think it is."

"But Cid…" Tifa protested.

"Damn it! Lemme finish!" Cid tried to calm himself down. "Look. That freak is always mopin' about the place, makin' everyone else feel like shit, not tellin' any one of us why the hell he does it. Now, Vince is our friend, right? I ain't gonna let this thing go if I can figure out why the hell he's so damn miserable. We owe it to the guy to at least be able to sympathize with him!"

Tifa stared blankly at the old pilot. It wasn't every day Cid tried to do something nice for somebody.

"Cid," Cloud cut in, "I don't think he wants our sympathy. I don't think he wants anybody to know about it-"

"Fuck that!!"

Yuffie squirmed at Cid's tone, even though his shouts were whispered as well. She also had an unnerving feeling that Vincent was going to wake up.

"You know what?" Cid asked. "I don't care- damn it, I don't give one shit about what you people think! I'm taking this to the Highwind, and I'm gonna watch it. Anyone who wants to watch with me, you can follow if you want." And with that, he walked out of the mansion.

The rest of the group just exchanged glances back and forth.

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"I still say this is wrong," said Tifa, when everyone was crowded around the television in the crew's quarters. She kept giving nervous glances over her shoulder, afraid that Vincent would walk in at any moment. 

"Yo, Tif, it'll be a'ight," said Barrett.

"Yeah," chimed Cait, "and will you stop that? You're makin' me nervous just lookin' at you."

Cid popped the tape into the VCR and leaned back in the fold-out chair, taking a long drag from his cigarette. Yuffie squirmed on the floor and placed both of her hands over her eyes.

"Just tell me when I can look."

Everyone quieted down. Tifa and Red winced in expectation, Cid and Barrett watched intently while Cloud focused his vision on the bottom right corner of the screen. Reeve sat behind his monitor, looking off to the side, waiting for some tell-tale sign that he could look at the feed.

The film started, a simple view of a couch in a well-lit living space. Then, all of a sudden, a scruffy looking brunette walked in front of the lens and bent down to look at it.

"This thing on?" he asked aloud.

"The hell?!" exclaimed Cid. By now, everyone else was paying attention.

"Yeah man, I think it is," came a voice from the background. The brunette's face broke into a silly grin.

"Good," he said. He then walked over to the couch and sat down, facing the camera. "Hey, Johnny! Get your ass over here!"

"Coming! Geez, relax!" said the voice from before. A blonde man walked in from the left side of the camera and sat next to the other on the couch. They were both wearing blue suits. "Rolling?"

"Yep."

"Great."

"Now," the first man started, looking straight into the camera and still smiling, but with a mock air of professionalism about him, "today is October the Thirteenth. Now Johnny, what does this mean?" he feigned ignorance, turning towards his friend.

"It means, Ken," started the other while imitating the first man's smug smile, "that today is Vincent's birthday."

"That's right!" said Ken, and they both turned back to the camera. "Today is Vincent's twenty-seventh birthday."

"Oh, wow…" said Tifa, mostly to herself because everyone else was already engrossed in the film.

"Now, Vincent is such a tight-ass…"

"_Such_ a tight-ass," repeated Johnny, a heavy emphasis on the first word.

"…That he'd never let us do anything special for him if he knew about it."

"But since he's not expecting it…"

They both looked at each other and snickered.

Ken continued. "We're going to surprise him and take him out to have some fun. And…"

"We're gonna tape it."

"Yep. Proof that he's not a total machine, haha."

"This should be interesting, to say the least."

"I don't know man, he might take a while to loosen up."

Johnny turned to Ken. "You think we can get him to do anything stupid? Like, to shove in his face later?" He got a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Vincent? I dunno. Why, you got an idea?"

Johnny leaned over and whispered something into Ken's ear and Ken began laughing. 

"We'll see if we can do it. Johnny- man, that's just too damn good. Hah…haha."

"…You ready?"

"Yeah. Let's go get 'im."

Johnny walked off in the direction he had come from, and Ken walked up to the camera and lifted it up. The room swirled as the device was jostled, and then the screen went black.

Wen the screen was light again, AVALANCHE saw Johnny standing in front of a door, dressed casually. He was inside a living space, much like the one they had been in before. The camera zoomed out for a bit, surveying the area, then came back to Johnny. 

"What are you waiting for? Go ahead and knock," came the voice from behind the camera. It was Ken.

Johny was about to do just that when the door opened on its own, and a tall, shirtless man with hair the color of gunmetal strode out past him, a white dress shirt flung over his shoulder. The man stopped abruptly and turned to face Johnny, dumbfounded by his presence. He then noticed the camera that was trained on him and looked straight into it, giving off the impression of a lost kid.

Yuffie threw herself forward, towards the TV. "Oh, Gaw-"

"Shaddap," warned Cid.

"Is that Vinnie?!" she shrieked.

Cid pulled the girl back forcefully by her shoulder. "No talking during the film! If ya don't shut yer mouth, I'll kick yer ass offa the ship!"

Needless to say, Yuffie shut her mouth.

Tifa finally took a seat next to Cid, dropping slowly into it as she was now completely lost in the vision before her. "…Is that really…?"

It was Vincent. He was still pale, but not deathly so. His chin was visible, and he had a thin and angular jaw line, and finely chiseled features. Big, dark brown eyes peered into the camera in shock, and they glowed a natural glow.

"Your fault," Ken said to Vincent, "you're a Turk, you should have seen it coming!"

Vincent recoiled in surprise, his mouth slightly parted.

"Haha! Look at you!" Vincent turned his head to look at Johnny, who was sputtering at his reaction. "So…" he started, once he had settled down, "you ready to go and have some fun?"

Vincent's eyes stayed on Johnny's, then moved back to Ken's…then to Johnny's, then to Ken's, back to Johnny's…finally resting on Ken's. He hung his head low and rubbed both his temples with his left- hand- and sighed. Finally, he spoke in a smooth, soft voice. "Fine. What do you have planned?"


	2. Act II

**Vincent's Last Birthday Escapade, Act II   
  
By Darknightdestiny**

A/N: I agree with the review I got from JackofSpades, and I will be spelling out my cursing from here on, because it really is more professional that way. I might go back and edit the previous chapter, but I might have to change those words around. Hope no one gets offended. I'll try to keep it to a minimum, but of course, Cid is there. So...yeah. Also...I'm going to try to post the third and final part much sooner than it took to do this one. It's been over a month since his birthday, and I'd like to get this finished. Sorry I made all of you wait this long. The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll post though. Not that I didn't enjoy getting 23 reviews for one chapter...just...I'm afraid you won't be looking for this since I made you wait for so long. If no one's reading anymore, then I won't see any reason to hurry. But...I hope you are still reading it. Who knows...you might only have to wait a couple of days.

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"Alright!" hollered Johnny.

"That was easier than I thought it'd be," said Ken. "Okay, Vinny. Go get dressed."

Vincent gave a lopsided smile and shook his head. He then went back into his room, presumably to do as he was requested. Then the screen went black again.

"Hold up, hold up!" shouted Yuffie, her hands waving in the air, begging for a time-out. "Pause it!" Cid obeyed, but not without some grumbling.

"What now?!"

"How come that guy," and here she pointed to the television, "gets to call him 'Vinny,' but I can't?"

"Who the hell knows? You stopped us for that? We don't have forever!" Cid looked a little more than simply annoyed.

"...Well, sorry!" Yuffie threw her hands up in the air and let them fall back down to her sides with a slapping sound as they hit her bare legs, and Cid unpaused the tape as yet more grumbling was heard throughout the room.

"Cid?" Tifa ventured.

"Yeah? Whaddya' need?"

"...You seem really on edge today. More than usual..."

"...I haven't had my tea, okay?" Tifa laughed a little. She knew that when Cid was grumpy because he 'hadn't had his tea,' it was because Cid drank his tea along with something a little...extra.

Ken called out to Vincent, "You ready yet?" A muffled voice answered from inside.

"...Give me a minute."

There was some shuffling and thumping around behind the door before Vincent emerged. His head was bowed down as he reached behind himself to pull the door shut, and he peered up through his cascade of ebony and smoke-tinted bangs at Ken. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his khaki pants. His long-sleeved black button-down shirt hung loosely over his waist and bunched at the elbows when he hid his hands.

A female voice whistled. "Vincent! I didn't know you cleaned up so well! Nice to see you in something other than that suit!" Vincent turned to find the owner of the voice and froze, his eyes wide in shock as loud, mixed laughter ensued. There were a dozen or so of his colleagues standing over by the counter on the other side of the room, and there was one girl standing with them, a wide grin on her face.

"Hey!" shouted Johnny. "Alissa, you're MY girl! Vincent's got his own!" Vincent just looked helplessly to him, as he stood by his door, still waiting to get moving. "Vinny, you ready to go?" Vincent gave a slight nod.

"Yes...Ken, turn that thing off." Vincent gestured to the camera. "This is not a parade."

"Oh yes it is!" laughed Ken. "You are finally going to leave your apartment after all those long days at the headquarters! You are finally going to go somewhere other than your bed on a Friday night!" Vincent just kept staring him down, as if they had pulled the cruelest joke possible. "Oh, Vin. Tsk, tsk. You just have to take the fun out of everything, don't you?"

"Yes. Put it down."

"What if I don't want to?" Ken said in the usual 'what if' tone, preceeded by a mock gasp. Johnny just snickered next to Vincent.

"Ken...do you really want to find out? Vincent can be pretty good with...heh heh...negotiations." Johnny emphasized the word 'negotiations,' because everyone in the room knew what that word meant when it came down to Turk business. "After all, he is the top man in the negotiations department." Johnny emphasized the word again. "I mean...negotiations is a really tough job..." and again. Vincent finally turned to him after a few minutes of this, his patience growing thin.

"Why do you tempt me?" he asked with a sigh. Johnny just laughed.

"So are we going, or what?"

"...As soon as Ken puts down that camera."

"Nope!" exclaimed Ken, a huge grin forming on his face. "I am the camera master! And no negotiations man is going to scare me! Nyah!!" Ken proceeded to do a little dance in place. Vincent just stared.

"...Did you start drinking already?" he asked, one eyebrow raised.

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer." Ken stated. He was only attempting some humor, and had not even begun on the road to innebriation.

"That means yes," Johhny leaned over and whispered to Vincent, loud enough so that everyone in the room could hear.

"Hey, I heard that!" exclaimed Ken. He shifted his gaze back to Vincent. "You're not so scary, Mr. Boss-man." Normally this would have been enough to send him sliding down in the ranks, fast as a child in the middle of a playground, but Ken and Vincent had been friends for a long time before Vincent had gotten promoted to the head position in the department.

"Chase him, chase him!" the chorus resounded around the room. Everyone laughed immediately at the thought of their quiet gentleman of a boss chasing his wild friend around the room before Vincent even got started.

"...I think not. I'd rather retain my dignity." Vincent shifted his weight to one leg and crossed his arms.

"See?" exclaimed Ken, half-whining as he went along, "That's what I'm talking about! You need to let loose! You used to be so much fun..." Here Ken mocked sadness and frowned, shaking his head. Then he gave off a fake sniffle. Johnny cackled like a hyena. Vincent...rolled his eyes.

"This job takes a lot out of you."

"It's nothing you haven't done before! Come on...I'll buy you a drink."

"...I don't know." Vincent didn't look indecisive; he looked more like he had already decided that this was one idea he wasn't feeling into at all.

"Vincent," Johnny slapped him on the back, "do you really want to disappoint all of these people?" Johnny gestured to the crowd that had accumulated in the Turk-issued apartment. "They all came out for your big day," he feigned disappointment as well, even though Vincent's reaction to the entire ordeal was to be expected by them all, and they had been prepared for this, "and you're just gonna make them turn around and go home?"

"No way..." said Ken. "Or in the words of Mr. Valentine, 'I think not.'" They laughed a lot at this impression. Ken did a pretty good imitation of Vincent's soft and decisive voice.

Vincent looked at Johnny's hand, which was still on his back, and raised one eyebrow. Johnny quickly caught on to the signal and removed his hand. "I suppose...that one drink wouldn't hurt." Vincent gave in to their protests.

"Yahoo!" whooped Johnny. "We're going downtown! Everybody grab your things and let's get goin'!"

"...One more thing," came Vincent's steady tone, accompanied by a glare and a smirk.

"And what is that, oh solemn one?" mocked Ken.

"...This." Vincent pulled and lifted his left hand up from his pocket, and flicked off the camera switch.

Several hours and a few too many drinks later, the camera was back on, and Vincent was sitting in a huge cushioned chair, flipping through some notebooks. "I don't like that one. It looks...trashy."

"What's wrong with it?!" exclaimed a very tipsy Ken. "Johnny has one of those." Johnny nodded.

Vincent smirked. "That was exactly my point."

"Alissa likes it," said Ken. "You're jus...you're just..." Ken snapped his fingers repeatedly, trying to find the word he was looking for. "Johnny, what's that word? You know...when you're scared of somethin'? Uh..."

"Scared?" asked Johnny.

"...Yeah! That's it. Vincent, you're just scared."

Vincent shook his head. "You're a numbskull," he intoned.

Finally, Vincent's previous insult on Johnny registered with the drunken man. "Hey!" he said. "That wasn't very nice! Mine is not trashish! It was an edgimicated decishun! You're a big meanie!" Alissa hung on Johnny's shoulder.

"You know," she said to everyone in the room, who just so happened to be crowded around the back and sides of Vincent's chair, "He shouldn't get one of those. He should get one of those over there. Y'know...something Lu can play with."

"You mus' be kiddin'," said Ken. "Vin doesn' wan' one o' those," he slurred out, his voice getting lower as he shook his head. "I mean...he doesn'...doesn'...damn. He does not-t-t!" Ken emphasized the 't' several times at the end of his second try, in an attempt to prove that he was still capable of normal speech patterns.

"Well, I think he should," said Alissa, who had only consumed two drinks the entire night. She hugged Johnny tighter from behind and reached around him towards Vincent. "And he should get it right there!" Alissa tugged on his lip with her finger.

"...You're jokin'! Vin would never do that. He wants this..." Ken shoved a book at Johnny and Alissa, not even bothering to show Vincent, who was staring at a suddenly interesting patch of over-stained wood on the wall.

"Ooooh," said Johnny, "this's cool." Alissa looked at it for a bit, then took the book and walked over to Vincent.

"Do you want this one?" she asked. Vincent stared at her for a bit, then his eyes shifted to the side as if he had lapsed into deep thought.

"No...I knew what I wanted before."

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh..." he nodded his head and opened another book. "I just have to find it..." He flipped through as he talked. He flipped through, and flipped some more...and flipped...and flipped...

"Oh, Vin, jus' give it to me!" said Ken. "I can find it."

"...You don't know what it looks like."

"But I know what you like."

"...No, you don't. I didn't want what you said..."

"I can't find it." Alissa rolled her eyes at Ken, knowing full well that he couldn't find it, and that Vincent was right.

Suddenly, Vincent remembered to tell Ken something. "It's on page 57." Now Alissa rolled her eyes at Vincent, knowing that he should have been able to find it himself if he remembered the page number from before.

"Give me those," she said. She grabbed the book and turned to page 57. "Wow...Vincent, is this really the one that you want? That's going to hurt very much...there are so many lines..."

"I said that was it," said Vincent. His speech was apparently fine, but the alcohol had taken a toll on his memory, seeing that he couldn't even find something he had expressed such a sureness for.

"Vincent...I'm going to ask you again," said Alissa. "Are you sure about this? Because...it's going to hurt." Vincent nodded. "Really badly..." she continued. He nodded again. "Have you studied this?" He nodded.

"It looks like her."

"Awwww!" shouted Johnny. "Thas' so sweet!"

"..." Vincent looked at Johnny. "What're you ogling at?"

"Oh, nothin'... I jus' thought Alissa's pierced lip idea was good. Hey, stick out your tongue."

"No."

"...You really are a mean old boss."

Vincent stood up and the rest of them followed to the back of the room, down one of the wooden hallways lit with bright and shining overhead lights, the flourescents usually found in a classroom or in a laboratory. Here, Vincent sat down in another chair like the first one, and a previously hidden character pulled up a bench and sat down next to him. The man pulled out a case and opened it, revealing some needles and some thin tubes of color. "Wow..."the man said, when Alissa handed him the open book. "Are you sure about this?"

Vincent threw his head back in the chair. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Well...okay...but don't say I didn't warn you." The man bent down, positioning his view over Vincent's left forearm and placed one of the needles next to it. The man flicked a small switch on the device and a thin-sounding buzzing began to stir within the tip of the metal. He brought the cold end of the sterilized tool down on Vincent's arm...

...And a loud shriek echoed throughout the room.

"Vinny!" Johnny howled amidst his laughter. He pointed at Alissa. "She...haha...she warned you!" The man who was committing the deed continued with an uncomfortable look on his face, as if he wasn't sure whether or not he should stop.

The screaming stopped as abruptly as it had started. "I was only kidding," said Vincent. He knocked his right arm against the wall quite forcefully, and Alissa was afraid that he might crush something within his hand. Vincent smirked. "I can't feel a damn thing." He then burst into laughter. The man working on his arm was assaulted with a case of wide-eyed syndrome, and he was sweating. He looked as if he had survived his first heart attack, and Alissa thought he might drop his instruments. In fact, there were a lot of things that passed through Alissa's mind that night. The males of the group were simply too oblivious to be paying any attention. Yes...even Vincent.

"He made a joke!" Ken shouted and pointed at Vincent. "Haha...he made a joke!" Johnny doubled over and laughed from a nearby spot on the floor.

"You should have seen your face," said Vincent. "That was priceless."

"Uahahahaha!!" Johnny was red and purple in the face. "Oh...man. Haha!" The artist winced.

"Do you mind keeping it down? This is a very delicate process..." Johnny calmed himself down with the help of Alissa, and Ken quieted himself.

"Sure thing, old man," said Ken.

"Sorry," said Johnny. "But if ya knew this guy...you'd understand." He shot a smug face at Vincent. Suddenly, the situation at hand dawned on him. "...We got it on tape, too!" Johnny sidled over to Ken and slapped him a high five on his free hand.

"Hey..." Vincent said, a bit drowsily. "I thought I turned that off."

"You did," said Ken. "I turned it back on." Vincent was suddenly aware of the simplicity in the action. Without warning, he burst into laughter.

"Ken?" addressed Johnny. "Ken, I think you broke him."

There, in the middle of a television screen, was a clear shot of Vincent, sitting in a cushioned chair, laughing it up with a couple of drunken Turks and their buddies from the 'office'.

"Wow..." Yuffie stared at the picture. "I didn't know Vinny could do that."

"Well..." Cloud ran a hand through his hair, "I don't think any of us did."

Yuffie shot a sarcastic glare at Cloud. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"Dat boy was laughin'!"

"...I wonder what it would have been like if I had been there," Reeve pondered aloud. Barret turned on the cat.

"Dey fortunes woulda been told, and den dey woulda sent ya home! You suck, cat."

"Hey!" shouted Reeve. "How come you're always so mean to me?" Cid had had about enough of this, and he paused the tape again, right when he was starting to be able to make out the design Vincent had picked. Now that would have actually qualified as 'learning something about Vincent.' Everything else had qualified as 'learning that Ken and Johnny are a couple of drunken freaks who can't speak correctly while under the influence.'

"You two shut yer mouths!! If I have to listen to any more of this shit, then I'm gonna punch yer lights out!"

"Well, Cid..." Nanaki finally spoke up, "that might not be the best way to solve the problem. After all, Barret is a pretty large man, and I don't see why-"

"You shut yer mouth, too!"

"...Honestly, Cid-"

"Shut it." Cid gave Nanaki a warning glare. Nanaki decided to comply with Cid's 'request,' as he did not want to invoke the situation any further. "That's better!" the pilot sighed loudly in contentment. He turned back to the television and pressed the 'play' button once more on the VCR. Tifa just looked at him, happy that the 'Almighty Cid Highwind' hadn't decided to go and cause a ruckus.

"...Excuse me...but could you all keep the...noise...down?" A soft voice floated up from the back of the hallway and faded out. Tifa's heart leapt into her throat. So her fear had come true, after all. She dared to look behind her.

There stood an exhausted and wavering Vincent Valentine, sweat still clinging to his forehead and his shirt, his hair touseled and matted, flowing all over the place. His eyes were fixed on the now playing screen, and they were wide in horror. His face was pale, even more so than usual.

Yuffie turned around to meet the voice. "Ack! Vinny!" she clamped her hand over her mouth as soon as his detested nickname flew past her lips. She feared the worst of it would be on her for some reason, as she always seemed to have a tendency to make situations worse than they would have been had she just kept out of the way.

Tifa's eyes slowly moved from Vincent's shocked form to Cid's own face. He sat next to Tifa, and both were looking over the backs of their seats at Vincent, whose eyes were still fixed on the screen. Cid's eyes were wide as well, and his cigarette hung limply from his lip, stuck there only because all of the moisture in his mouth had disappeared, and the paper had literally stuck itself into the dry grip of the corner of his mouth.

"Shit."

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A/N:...Act III, last part...coming soon...::laughs::   
You're not ready for this. ::Headbangs to Rammstein's 'Engel':: Hee...omake.  
I apologize for any bad spelling errors. Our copy of Word no longer works, and so I've been making these by HTML code lately. I don't have a spell-checker, so...yeah. Sorry...::kicks computer:: 


	3. Act III

**Vincent's Last Birthday Escapade:  
  
Part Three**

**By Darknightdestiny**

Tifa watched Vincent's face with an indescribable fear. Her eyes nervously darted about his form, checking for indications that at any moment, he would be overcome with rage and transform into one of Hojo's creations so that he could rip them all to shreds. His own eyes remained focused on the screen, his mouth slightly parted, she noticed, as it was when he had first discovered Ken and Johnny in his apartment. As she was noticing this, he blinked, and those same eyes flicked over in her direction.

So it was him after all. They were the same eyes, albeit that they were red now, and the same mouth. He had the same thick hair that shone like the dark metal of the Quicksilver, and the same smooth, pale skin, albeit that now it was a much lighter shade from being locked away for so long. Vincent stared at Tifa in silence before his gaze drifted slowly about the room, settling on each member of AVALANCHE. Everyone in the room met his stare with nervous fidgeting, waiting to see what he would do next. The air was silent, save for the easily recognizable sounds of a tattooing needle working its master's will in the background, where the tape still whirred about two small spools within the old machine. Tifa had always held a strange power of persuasion, and right then, she wished to all of the stars above that she had tried harder to convince the rest of them not to watch that tape.

Vincent stood motionless for a bit more, and then he turned his gaze back to the television screen, focusing in on the scene before him. He inched towards it without making a sound, watching the entire process with the curiousity of a child, seemingly mesmorized by it. The others watched him in fascination as he gave his young self a personal, silent appraisal, but Tifa knew better when she caught a familiar look passing quickly over the gunman's delicate features. An instant later, and much to the surprise of everyone else in the room, Vincent's hand shot out and clicked the ejection button on the machine. He slid the black object out from the machine and exited the room swiftly without so much as one word. Some stared after him with curiousity, while others did so with a heavy feeling of guilt weighing on their hearts. In the middle of this moment of quiet reflection, a young ninja's voice pierced the stagnant air.

"Vinny, wait!" Yuffie ran after him while, one by one, the others acquired a look of dread, as they anticipated the events that would soon transpire. There was no stopping Yuffie Kisaragi when it came down to anything involving Vincent Valentine. The members of AVALANCHE were directing their gazes towards Cid at this moment, and even Cloud was prepared to blame the pilot, even though each of them had participated in the deed of their own free will. Cid looked back at the rest of them and threw his hands up in the air.

"What!? Now it's all my fault?" Cloud nodded. Tifa wasn't listening. She had her eyes fixed on the doorway that had just become Yuffie's exit, and she had a look of worry and deep contemplation on her face. One after the other, the rest of the members of AVALANCHE assured Cid that the entire incident was his fault. When Tifa didn't say anything, Cid became curious.

"Hey, Tif. Aren't ya gonna say somethin'?" There was no answer. "Tif? Hey, Tif...what's on yer mind?"

Tifa broke from her silent spell at the sound of the older man's rough voice. "Hmm? Oh, nothing..."

"It doesn' look like nothin'."

"...I was just thinking."

"Well, shit! Ain't ya gonna tell yer ol' pal Cid what's up?"

"...What do you think she's going to do to him?" Cid paused and scratched his head for a minute. The rest of the team stopped to listen to his conversation with Tifa. When Cid realised what she had meant by her comment, he too began to grow worried about the gunman. Yuffie had a heart for Vincent, that was certain, but she wasn't exactly the best counselor. In fact, the young shinobi had no social tact at all, and she was rather blunt in everything she said, an admirable trait to some, but nevertheless, quite hurtful at times.

"Vinny, wait up!" Yuffie scrambled after the man in black and red, desperately trying to keep up with his quick pace as he ascended the staircase. "Vinny!" He didn't answer her and continued walking in silence. Yuffie would have called it 'storming off,' had Vincent shouted, slammed a door, or done anything to that effect. But Vincent never did things in that manner, and so as far as said ninja knew, it very well could be.

Yuffie reached the top of the stairs and ran down the right corridor before turning sharply to the right once more, only to be met with the door, it having just been shut in her face. Yuffie balled her hands into tight fists and stomped on the ground, shouting at the top of her lungs. "Vincent Valentine! Come back here!" The door remained shut. Yuffie tried to open it, but it was locked. She pounded on it with her fists. "Vinny! Please come out!" Still no response. Yuffie put her head up to the door and listened through the woodwork for any signs that Vincent might comply. The room was completely silent beyond the door, which only served to frustrate the young shinobi further. She growled, "You know, Vinny, you can be such a stubborn ass sometimes!"

Yuffie was about to storm off herself, when she heard a faint clicking sound come from the other side of the door. 'What was that?' She stopped mid-step. A sudden realization dawned on her and she turned on her heel and ran back to the door, flying at the speed of lightning. "Vinny, don't do it!" she screamed, throwing herself at the door, hoping to break it open. Instead, it opened upon her arrival, sending her stumbling into the dark room.

The ninja went sprawling forward and caught herself on the back of a chair, banging her shin in the process. She wheeled around again, a stream of curses falling from her mouth. Vincent stood by the doorway, watching her with an expressionless face. She positioned herself upright and faced him, and he adjusted his eyes to her established height before muttering softly, "...Words unfit for one so young." His hand slid from the doorknob as he moved away from the door, the fingers lingering on the metal as he did so. The knob turned, and Yuffie recognized the distinct clicking noise it made.

Yuffie's eyes went wide for a moment, and then her face filled with fury. "Vincent, you did that on purpose, didn't you?!" she screamed, remembering his cruel sense of humor. Vincent just stared back at her, bewildered by her sudden anger, but nonetheless amused by it. In truth, he had no idea as to what she was alluding, but he didn't remember doing anything that should make her upset. She stood there with her hands firmly placed on her bony hips, waiting for some sort of explanation. When she didn't receive one, she ran at him, ready and wanting to throw a fit, but instead only punching him once in the shoulder before burying her face in it. "Vincent," she whimpered, "I was so scared!"

It was then that Vincent decided he would take a couple of seconds for a quick 'time out,' so that his brain could reload. First, he sees his deceased lover in a cave, and so he goes back to the mansion so that he can be alone for a while. Then, he wakes up to find that everyone has left the house and has been crowded around Cid's television to watch a film featuring a very personal moment in his own life. The next thing he knows, there is a small girl attaching herself to him. "Yuffie...what are you talking about?" The young ninja shifted in his arms and poured out her complaints to him rather hurriedly.

"Vinny, you've been so down since we left that waterfall- well, more than usual- and I was worried about you, and I thought you'd be mad at me, and then I heard a click, and then I thought you were going to do something stupid, and oh, Vinny, don't ever leave us!"

Vincent began to wonder if his thought reprocessing had been in vain, as he tried to understand what was plaguing the young girl. One eyebrow raised in question, and the other followed before his face finally settled into a frown of dismay and possibly insult. Yuffie wasn't paying attention. She was much too preoccupied with squeezing the life out of Vincent than she was with noticing his facial expressions, as rare as they were. "...I may be a bit on the side of depressed..." and here he set her away from him, "but I would never stoop so low." Yuffie looked up at him and smiled.

"Good." She pointed her finger at him, "You had better not. I'd miss you." Had she not heard what he'd said? Vincent was suddenly torn between wanting to pat the girl on the head and wanting to slap that silly grin off her face. Of course, Vincent Valentine would never hit a lady...

...except for maybe Scarlet. Not that she was a lady. But then again, neither was Yuffie.

Vincent blinked back at Yuffie before getting a smug smirk on his face. 'Oh, is that so?' he thought to himself. Yuffie just stared back at him, no doubt thinking that just maybe she had gotten him to smile, touched his heart somewhere, gotten him to notice how much she really cared. She, with her bright enthusiasm and energetic charm, had gotten Vincent Valentine to smile.

Vincent closed in and swept her off her feet, quite literally, and her heart leapt up into her throat. Her chest fluttered as he carried her across the room, and she contemplated all the possibilities of this all-so-sudden turn of events, analyzed every detail of his actions, as so many girls will do. Yuffie held her arms tightly about his neck...

...and so the jerking motion was all the more prevalent when she found herself promptly relocated- or as she would put it, 'dropped'- inside the hallway, Vincent's door once again barring her way. Yuffie rose from her crumpled position at the foot of Vincent's door and checked herself for injuries. She glared at the offending barricade of wood and shouted loudly at it, so as to relieve her stress. "Jerk!" Of course, the door would not answer back.

The ninja girl muttered various obscenities to herself as she dusted herself off, and somewhere between the word, "ungrateful," and the phrase, "son of a bitch," no doubt a phrase she'd picked up courtesy of Cid Highwind, her eye caught the figure of Tifa Lockheart. Tifa leaned against one of the corridor walls, a glazed over and sympathetic look on her face. Whether it was sympathy for Vincent, the shinobi herself, or for the entire scene in general, Yuffie could not tell. Yuffie balled her fists again and stamped her foot, glaring once again at the gunman's door in frustration. "Tifa, men are stupid."

Yuffie finally did storm off, leaving Tifa alone in the hallway of the mansion with only her thoughts to occupy her. The echo of Yuffie's retreating footsteps disappeared as they gradually faded from Tifa's hearing range. A strong gust of wind blew in through one of the open windows and tossed dark chocolate strands about the young woman's face, neck and shoulders. Holding her arms protectively about herself, hoping to block out the sudden chill that began creeping over her, Tifa walked slowly over to Vincent's door and pushed herself up against it, listening for any movement inside. When she heard none, she softly called out Vincent's name, but she got no answer. She decided that though it would seem almost too simple, and though it was highly unlikely, she would try the only other thing that came to mind.

She turned the doorknob, and it opened easily.

Tifa stepped inside the room, and she looked around, her eyes searching every inch of it. The light from outside did not illuminate this room as it did the rest of the mansion. Dark curtains had been draped over the windows with a deliberance, out of place and overlapping the previous set. The room was surrounded in shadow, and Vincent was nowhere to be seen.

Tifa's eyes met with the familiar stone wall that had been their portal to the lab and to Sephiroth the first time they had revisited Nibelheim. That was also the first time they had met Vincent, when they'd awakened him from his dreamlike- or nightmarish- state. Tifa walked over to the stone wall and bent down, her fingers trailing over the edges of the stones, looking for the release. When she finally found it, she hesitated in lifting it, but she eventually realised that, being who she was, she would never be able to rest peacefully without talking to Vincent about what had happened that day. Tifa slowly lifted the outer wall, a surprisingly light imitation of the stone shell that surrounded it, over her head, and she stepped out of the room and onto the winding staircase leading down to the basement.

Looking down the stairwell, Tifa didn't see any sign of Vincent lingering at the exit, but she had a feeling that she knew he was down there. She descended the staircase, taking her time so as to plot her next course of action. Or perhaps she was merely reliving this scene from her past, though this time she was alone, rather than with the other members of AVALANCHE, and she would be 'discovering' Vincent in a completely different way. She was afraid of what she might find, unsure of what state he might be in, but she dismissed her fear and pressed onward, knowing that if she did not, she might never be able to forgive herself.

When Tifa reached the bottom of the stairwell, she was faced with a choice. She could either stop where she was and turn into the door on the left, or she could continue on to the study. She thought that most would assume him to be in his coffin, if only for their fanciful preoccupations with fabrications and fantasy. While Tifa could think of a few reasons why Vincent would be in the study, she knew that she need go no further. Vincent would not dare go to the lab, after being reminded of all that he had lost. Instead, he would focus on how he deserved it, pushing away any true recollection of why his life had ended up the way it had, covering up the pain with whatever he could, so that he didn't have to face it.

Tifa knew Vincent much better than he would have thought she did.

Tifa stopped outside of the door to Vincent's coffin room, knowing full well that the door locked from the outside, but dreading the effect it might have if she walked in unannounced and uninvited. She leaned against one of the side walls and ran her hand over the flat surface protectively, before calling out to him. She was surprised to hear a ruffle of fabric, before a soft and quiet voice filtered through the wood.

"...Tifa."

|

A/N: I wanted to say something about the "I would never stoop so low" comment. This is not to discredit fanfictions that have been written about the possibility of him actually commiting the deed; that is just his attitude about it in this particular story. This is not even my opinion about his character in general...I may insert something like that into another story in the future.

Also, the next update, which I hope will be sooner, will be the actual last update. This was going to be it, but I decided I needed more time...because I am going to launch this as a prequel to a brand new fic I want to create. I had this idea one day, and I can't ignore it. And so...a new story is born. I have to think of a title, though.

I must apologize for being a Yuffentine tease. I know I received a request that I make this a Yuffentine, but I just could not. I understand how the setting would seem right for one, but when I started this story, I already had a certain 'heart-to-heart'/vignette/sappy-mushy-thingy, for lack of a better word, planned out in my head. And it didn't really involve Yuffie...

So, yes. There is one more part coming. I want to update this soon, but I want to make sure it is good and worthy of the effort. I don't want to read it over a month later and say, "Oh, I could make that so much better!" But Christmas vacation is coming, and I'm so excited about that, because it means I don't have to go to school! Which means I have plenty of time to work on my four fanfictions that I am doing simultaneously, because I am insane, and don't know how to pace myself.

If anyone wants to know the status of my fics, or how the actual process is coming along, you can find out by going to my LiveJournal. The link is on the homepage I listed in my profile. I use the thing as more of a project updating list with a few boring snippets from my life, plus a scrapbook for all of those ludicrous quizzes. But I always seem to write about what I have left to do as far as fanfiction goes, so if you really can't wait to find out, then look it up. Also, I get a bunch of questions about my stories from unsigned reviewers, so I can't really answer them...but if you want to leave an anonymous comment in my LJ or whatever, and then I can reply to it, then you'll be able to check up on it later and read my answer.

Thanks for reading.


	4. Act IV

**Vincent's Last Birthday Escapade:  
  
Part Four**

**By Darknightdestiny**

Tifa's eyes shut at the sound of her name. Vincent had sounded like he was expecting her to follow him down there. She had watched him send Yuffie out of his room, and she had caught the quick glance he had sent her own way while she stood there feeling sorry for both Vincent and Yuffie. His voice was of a melencholy tone, and she decided that she felt more sorry for him than she had for the girl. One the one hand, Yuffie had gotten herself into trouble by forcing her way into Vincent's private matters, but he hadn't had a choice. He hadn't even been asked if he wanted anyone to know... well...anything.

She didn't want to hurt him in the same way. So, she would ask him. "Vincent..." There was silence on the other side of the door. "...Can I come in?" There was no answer. Tifa's fingers curled up into her hand as it lay against the surface of the door. "Vincent-"

"You may."

It was simple and subtle, but it was all she needed. Tifa let her hand slide down to the doorknob, and she opened the layer of wood that separated her from her purpose for being there. She almost jumped backwards when she was met with the glinting of two red irises as soon as she had stepped inside of the dim chamber.

Vincent lay upside down on the top of his coffin, the lid closed, and the hard burgundy wood the only thing cushioning his back. His head was at the foot of the coffin, and his feet were at the top. His knees were slightly raised, and so his neck just reached the edge of the deathbed. The nape of his neck rested on the edge of the wood, and his head hung upside down from it, his hair falling down onto the floor, splayed out on the hard surface. He looked back at Tifa with tired eyes, half-closed from exhaustion. He had been through a great deal in the last couple of days, and she understood that he had wanted to be alone with his thoughts. But they had a planet to save, and nothing was going to pull him up from this unless he had some help.

Tifa stepped closer and knelt down at the foot of the coffin until she was at eye level with Vincent. One of her knees was on the floor, and the other was elevated slightly, supported by her steadfast foot. The second knee felt some of the soft strands brush against it as Vincent shifted around on his coffin and brought one of his hands to drape over his hip, and his claw arm up behind his neck, so that the hard wood wouldn't dig into his skin. It was hard to concentrate with Vincent's hair tickling her shin, but this was a serious matter, and she willed herself to do so. "...Are you alright?"

Vincent paused before answering. He kept his face as straight as ever, even though it displayed a weary passiveness. "In your terms, or in mine?" Tifa knew that she would never be able to understand his terms, at least not in the next day or two, and so for now, she would have to do with what she did know.

"Maybe I should have just asked if you were going to be okay." Tifa lowered herself to the ground, signifying her wish to stay and talk. She sighed and folded her hands in her lap, her legs folded neatly underneath of her. She watched her fingers play with one another before she finally lifted her gaze to Vincent's, which had not left her face, and she asked, "Do you think you will?"

Vincent continued to watch her for a few moments before his eyes faltered and went down to his feet, lost in plates of gold. Then, slowly, but still out of the blue, he flipped over on his coffin and propped himself up on his forearms. His human hand tinkered idly with his metallic claw as he thought about Tifa's question, and after a while, he answered it with one of his own. "...Tifa, what made you want to see that?"

Tifa tilted her head in question. "The tape?" Vincent nodded. "Well, to be perfectly honest...I didn't think it was a good idea to take it..."

"What made you want to see it?" He pressed further, his voice soft, but set in its way. It was true, she had been in the room when he'd found them, and she couldn't deny that.

"I guess it was curiosity." Vincent raised one eyebrow in question.

"...Is that so?" Tifa nodded. Vincent waited before speaking again, taking time out to play with his cybernetic appendage some more, still uncomfortable with its presence while he was awake. "...Why should you want to know about me?"

Tifa smiled sadly. "You're always so quiet, and so secretive. You've been with us all this time, and I still don't think I know much at all about who you really are. You keep to yourself, and you stay in the corner of every room..." She trailed off, unsure of what else to say. She sighed, and ended with, "I wish it wasn't so hard trying to talk to you."

"...Perhaps it is best."

Tifa looked down at her knees and then back up. "I'm not so sure." As she contemplated talking about life in general with Vincent, and anything else that might come up in a normal conversation with an old friend, which she had hoped that he would one day become, another thought struck her. "Vincent, what are you going to do when this is all over?"

Vincent kept his eyes cast downward and answered quietly, "I have not yet decided." There was a long silence, and the situation became awkward. Tifa tried her best to think of something else to say.

"...You know why she does it." It was more of a question than a statement, especially since she was running out of things to talk about, and she hoped that Vincent would make some sort of comment about it. He raised his head and looked her in the eyes.

"...Yuffie?" She nodded. "Yes, I know why." He lowered his head again, and left it at that, plain and simple. Tifa was satisfied with that, but she was curious as to what his exact thoughts on the matter were. She had a pretty good idea from what she had seen in the hallway, but she didn't know exactly why what had transpired had happened in the way it did.

"You know then, how she feels?"

Vincent raised his head again and spoke his mind on the matter, and he put things as nicely as he could. "I know what it is that she wants. But Yuffie is a young girl, and she will be for a very long time."

Tifa nodded in reply. Had Yuffie been there, the ninja would have been offended, thinking that Vincent was turning her down because of a petty difference in age. But Tifa understood what it was that had he meant by what he said. She also noticed that he had used the word 'wants,' instead of 'feels.' Tifa couldn't help but wonder why she had been allowed to enter the chamber, after what had happened between Vincent and Yuffie, but she had a hint of an answer, and that was good enough for her. As the silence grew, her fingers became busy once again.

In an odd attempt to lighten the mood, something that he rarely did, because not many people could appreciate his sense of humor, Vincent offered up the small phrase, "It is a bit ironic."

Grateful to have something new to move on to, Tifa watched him for an explanation, before she figured out that he wanted her to ask him herself. "What is?"

Vincent sighed in mock sadness, an air that gave off an immediate feeling of, 'Oh well, what can you do?' before he continued. "...It is ironic that, had I not had that image inked into my arm, I might still have it today."

Tifa hesitated. "I don't understand."

Vincent shook his head, and Tifa detected the hint of a smirk, even though it looked like a sad one. "It is not important." Tifa nodded and busied herself again. "Tifa..." She raised her head again to look at him, but found his gaze to be directed at her lap. Her face contorted in question, and his gaze came up to meet hers again, directing her own back to her lap when his eyes moved again. Tifa looked down at her hands and saw that she'd been fiddling with a lock of her hair, and a couple of his own strands had gotten caught in her fingers. For how long this had gone on, she was not sure, but she immediately dropped it. A small smile of amusement played on Vincent's face, but it disappeared as soon as Tifa looked back up at him, a bit of pink in her cheeks. "Are you nervous?" Vincent asked, with an expression completely void of all emotion.

"...Do you want the truth?" Tifa asked, sighing again purposefully, to try and ward off the tremor that caught in her throat.

"That will not be necessary," Vincent replied. "I can already tell that you are. However, I fail to see why." Tifa's brow was knit together in confusion, her head already tilted to the side in question. "It would seem that you have a genuine concern for my well-being." Vincent lowered his head again as she froze, her brow relaxed, but her eyes wide. He spoke up again, almost inaudibly. "...Thank you."

Tifa replied in the only way she knew how, with the only word that would come to her. "...Sure," she forced out, in her frozen voice. She clasped her hands tightly together and inched forward, coming underneath the shadow of Vincent's hair, which surrounded his downcast face. Finally, her voice came back to her. "We won't stop until we get him, you know."

"...I only want-"

"Closure?" Tifa interrupted. She'd no idea where that came from. Vincent nodded back to her, and she forgot for a moment why she even cared where it came from. She felt that she understood him for once, and she was happy to have done so, even if it was her only chance. "You'll get it...even if we have to wait until we've saved the entire world." Tifa smiled at the thought that they might accomplish the impossible.

Vincent worried that they might fail, and their chances looked bleak. But Tifa's presence there in the chamber was comforting to him, and even if they had a long, hard road in front of them, he still had a few moments of peace before they would head down that path. He decided that after all he had gone through to keep the others far away from him, he really didn't mind having her there, asking him questions. He didn't mind at all.

He nodded to her. "...Before we head out..." he offered softly, "here." Vincent sat up and slid from the coffin, around to the side, and lifted the lid up. He reached inside and pulled out the little black object that had caused all of that morning's trouble. Tifa blinked, still sitting in her position on the floor, unsure of what he was doing. He walked over and knelt beside her, handing her the tape.

"...What are you doing?" she asked. He looked up at her and then back to the tape, and when she didn't make a move, he took her hand and closed it around the tape. Tifa's eyes went wide with realization. "Why give it to me?" He sat down beside her.

"...You wanted to understand." She nodded. "You may finish it...once this is all over. After I leave."

"But isn't that something you wanted to keep?" she questioned.

He hesitated. "...It was a gift. To her. I did not care for it much, but she seemed to think it was thoughtful."

Tifa smiled. "I think so."

"...I was drinking."

Tifa laughed at the simplicity of his reply. "So what you are saying is that, had you been sober, you would never have gotten one of those when you were...young?"

Vincent started, and then stopped in thought for a minute. Tifa eyed him suspiciously and then asked a question that had been eating at her for some time, given Hojo's apparent age. "Vincent, how old are you?"

He turned to her and stared her down in all seriousness. "...Fifty-seven." Tifa laughed softly, but Vincent didn't change his expression one bit, not even with a smirk. Tifa stopped laughing after a while when she realized this.

"...You're serious?" He nodded. She stared straight ahead of her, thinking to herself. "Wow..." Vincent watched her with a slightly detached look, as if he had volenteered that information a hundred times. In truth, that was the first time he had ever been close to needing to explain himself since he woke up, and it was strange for him to think of himself as being that old, but he'd had only himself and his nightmares for the past thirty years, so not much would faze him. "You know, we have a lot to talk about one of these days," she said, turning back to him.

He nodded hesitantly. "...Perhaps later."

"...Perhaps," she said, mimicking him. "...Are you ready to go downstairs?" she asked warily.

"...Ladies first." He stood, motioning to the door, and helped her up.

|

"Oh...wow."

"What is it?" a voice called from the other room.

"Oh, nothing!" Tifa called back. She turned her attention back to the box that sat before her. "I can't believe I almost forgot about you," she said to no one in particular, but thinking of the small object that lay inside, 'you' meaning the object, and not the person in connection to the object. She sat still for a moment, almost afraid to touch it for some reason unknown. Finally, she just grabbed it and stood up quickly from the floor, before rushing out of the back room and past the bar. Karlie shot her a look of hurried confusion.

"Tifa, wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm going to run home. There's something I have to do," she breathed to the redheaded girl behind the counter.

"Why the rush?"

Tifa hurried out the door almost laughing, and she called back, "I don't even know!"

Tifa ran all the way from Tifa's Seventh Heaven to her apartment by the Junon Pier. The elevator was in use, and so she rushed up the stairs to get to her residence. It wasn't that big of a deal. After all, she'd climbed the 'never-ending' staircase at the ShinRa Headquarters, so she could take on a few stories easily.

When she reached her apartment, she set the tape down on the couch and bent over, breathing heavily. She walked over to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, and then strode back out to her living room and sat down on the couch. She stared at the tape for a minute or two before sitting her glass on the coffee table and taking it over to her machine. She examined the tape, which was still in the same place they had left it, so when she inserted it into the machine, it should start up exactly where they had left off. She pushed the tape into the machine...

...and was rewarded with tracking signals and fuzzy lines running across the screen. Tifa's heart dropped all the way down the stairs she had climbed and hit the water below. She'd waited six months to see what Vincent had been so protective about, something he had deemed worthy of Lucrecia's eyes, but not of the rest of his 'teammates,' and now she would never know what was on the tape. It wasn't like she could ask Vincent, because he'd disappeared as soon as they'd landed the Highwind after Sephiroth's defeat. No one had heard anything from him, and she was the only one who had any evidence of his existence, and it was completely shot. As busy as she was in her thoughts, she didn't seem to notice that the tracking was getting better and better until the sound of an electric needle hit her ears and jolted her out of her saddened state.

Turning all of her attention back to the screen and slinking back into her seat, Tifa watched the artist do his work on Vincent's arm, whil Ken and Johnny laughed in the background. Vincent settled down quickly, but the other two continued as loudly as ever. Tifa got up from her couch and walked over to the screen, her remote in hand. She could have sworn she saw a snippet of something inbetween the artist's bowed head and busy hand, but she couldn't be sure, and so she wanted to wait until it was finished. She was sure that Ken and Johnny would have wanted to tape the final product.

When the art was done, however, she heard Ken's voice commenting, "And now to see Vinny's new arm!" and watched as the camera changed angles, but then the image ended, replaced with only static. She fast-forwarded the tape, hoping to catch something at the end of the static, but that was all there was. She rewound the tape again, to the point at which she had seen something beforehand, and used her slow-motion button on her remote so that she could watch the film in frames. When she got a semi-clear picture, she paused it, and brought her face inches from the screen.

What she saw was the figure of an angel, tattooed neatly on Vincent's left forearm, with the face of a beautiful woman. She'd remembered him saying that the one he wanted 'looked like her,' and she could only assume that he had meant Lucrecia. But why was the end of the tape missing? He had said it had been given to her, so why would the end be gone? The rest of the film up to that point had been fine. She'd realized that the tracking distortion had been her own machine, and it had adjusted on its own. But there was an abrupt stop at the end.

Had she gotten rid of it herself? Maybe that was why he hadn't wanted the others to see it. Or maybe it was simply the fact that he didn't want to give the them any reason to expect him to act like they did. Nevertheless, it seemed odd to Tifa that the end was missing.

Maybe one day she would ask him. Maybe one day, she would get that chance. In that moment, she was just glad that he had trusted her enough to let her see it. She didn't know what it was, but knowing Vincent, he had seen something that he liked in her character. He had a strange way with everything, and people were no exception. She'd come to read some of his expressions and actions during the rest of their trip, and she'd come to interpret them in her own way, but they always seemed to match up. She was sad that she could not see him to thank him for trusting her, and for thinking that she could understand him even a little. But she had her thanks from him already there, in the form of one short scene from his past.

|

A/N: And it's finished! Like I said, I'm going to be launching this as a prequel for the fic I want to do afterwards. It will be called, "To Know You," and it will take place about a month after this fic does. It will be about 10 chapters, as far as I can see, and I will try to start it as soon as possible. I love vacations, don't you?

So there it is, complete with my obligatory refutation of the Yuffentine pairing. It just wouldn't be complete without it. But I'm feeling badly for those who read it with the expectation of something along those lines. So I'm thinking of maybe writing a short for that...even though it goes against my self-imposed writing code, as stated in the beginning of _Flirting with Death_. Did you know that due to the new anti-author notes rule, I have to get rid of that introduction to that story? [sigh]

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'd thank specifics, but some people don't like to send reviews until the very end of the story, and that would just leave out everyone who only reviews chapter 4. I do want to thank gothicDJ, kissa-chan, seasonofthepumpkin and JessAngel, as well as Sephiroth1Ripley8, JackofSpades and Dark Angel. You guys really, really kept me going, and I really appreciated the correspondence I got from you!

Kissa: Rachel...Update!  
Me: Soon!  
Kissa: It's about that time!  
Me: Soon...  
Kissa: Did you DIE?  
Me: ...Yes ma'am!  
[snickers]

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! I appreciate all the feedback I get, and it makes me feel all fuzzy inside. XP

~Nighty Night~


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